Construction activity related to housing increased sharply in the second quarter of the year, provisional Central Statistics Office (CSO) data has revealed, despite an overall drop in activity levels across the sector compared to last year.
The statistics agency’s latest building and construction production index also indicates that non-residential activity declined sharply in the three months to the end of June.
The index covers all forms of construction and building activity, including repairs, improvements, solar panel installation, as well as new dwelling construction. As such, it is more of a bellwether of general activity levels within the industry, rather than a measure of housing output.
Still, the provisional data available to the CSO indicates that residential construction and building activity increased by 12.3 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2025. It also increased by 5.5 per cent between the first and second quarters.
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Of the three main subsectors, residential construction and building was the only one to increase on an annual basis, according to the CSO.
Non-residential construction production decreased by a sharp 18 per cent in the year to the end of June, while civil engineering production volumes fell by 4.4 per cent.
While construction activity has remained buoyant so far this year, there is some evidence that house building has slowed in recent months.
After a remarkable 32.9 per cent annual jump in the number of homes completed in the first quarter, new dwelling completions fell by 3.6 per cent annually in the second quarter, according to previous CSO data releases.
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Purchasing managers’ indices also indicate that house-building activity slowed somewhat in the middle months of the year due to uncertainty triggered by the Middle East conflict and its impact on construction costs.
Separately, the CSO said 16 per cent of all Ber-rated dwellings in the State had solar panels or solar thermal collectors in the second quarter. A building energy rating (Ber) is the official label that measures the energy efficiency of a home or building.
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More than 99 per cent of audited dwellings built since 2020 received a rating of A or A0 under the Ber system, according to the data. A or A0 ratings were received by 93 per cent of dwellings built from 2015 to 2019, 39 per cent of those built from 2010 to 2014 and 6 per cent built between 2005 and 2009.
